Skip to main content
Dessert

Blanc-mange

A molded dessert of almonds, cream, sugar and mace, set with isinglass or calves' feet stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Blanc-mange

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Put an ounce of isinglass into a bowl (an ounce and a quarter in warm weather).

  2. Pour on enough rose water to cover the isinglass, and set it on hot ashes to dissolve.

  3. Blanch a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds, half sweet and half bitter.

  4. Beat the almonds to a paste in a mortar, one at a time, moistening them with a little rose water.

Make the mixture

  1. Stir the almonds by degrees into a quart of cream, alternately with half a pound of powdered white sugar.

  2. Add a large tea-spoonful of beaten mace.

  3. Put in the melted isinglass and stir the whole very hard.

  4. Put it into a porcelain skillet and let it boil fast for a quarter of an hour.

  5. Strain it into a pitcher and pour it into moulds first wetted with cold water.

Set and serve

  1. Let it stand in a cool place undisturbed until entirely congealed, about five hours.

  2. Wrap a cloth dipped in hot water round the moulds, loosen the edges with a knife, and turn it out into glass dishes.

  3. Make it the day before it is wanted.

  4. Instead of a figure-mould, set it to congeal in tea-cups or wine glasses.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

107Calories
1 gProtein
6 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Cream + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,009 recipes
  5. Almond + macetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,010 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shelled almonds
Provide body, rich nutty flavour and a fine paste that thickens the cream.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture to the set dessert.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that makes the mixture congeal as it cools.
Powdered white sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and almonds.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour.

The step that matters

Let it stand undisturbed until entirely congealed. Isinglass sets as the mixture cools and firms into a gel. Moving or jarring the mould while it is setting can break up the forming network, leaving a soft or uneven texture.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, cream, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, cream, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More blancmange recipes

Arrowroot 42Rice 24Chocolate 15Cornstarch 14Lemon 14Almond 13 See all 129 →

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes